Monday, February 3, 2014

Are Spaniards impolite?

The way people speak here is
quite different from how Canadians speak. Examples:

At the store, the clerk
says:

Canada: “Hello, can I help
you?”

Spain: “Dime!” (“Tell
me [what you want]!”)

Passing someone while
walking:

Canada: “Hey, how are
ya?”

Spain: “Hasta luego!”
or “Adios!” (“Bye!” - they're saying hello and goodbye at the
same time)

Answering the phone:

Canada: “Hello, Aga
speaking?”

Spain: “Dime!” (“Talk
to me!”)

Giving money to the cashier:

Canada : “Here you go.”

Spain: “Toma!” (“Take
it!”)

This is how close one of my neighbors talks to me. And she knows my Spanish level isn't great so she yells, too.

As you can see, the way
people speak here is almost command-like and very direct. Are they
less polite? In my opinion, no. Certain ways of communicating are
more “efficient”, but there's a lot of politeness in other
aspects. When you enter a store or approach a group, you say hello to
everyone in general and they will greet you back. (Just in the
pueblo. If you do this in a big city like Madrid you won't get a
response.) Also, here the entire group is considered for activities.
Leaving someone to fend for themself is not considered in proper
form.

Sometimes people show more
patience for the older generation than I've seen in Canada. On a bus
in Úbeda, two older women were chatting in the aisle. A younger
woman, heading towards the back, stopped and waited for the women to
move out of the way. And waited. And waited. She and the guy behind
her never asked the women to move, instead they politely waited for
them to finish their chat. The whole time I watched this, I thought,
“If I was them I'd be yelling right about now.”

How ironic that I'm a
teacher for students wanting to learn English here, and meanwhile I'm
getting the best education ever on a different way to relate to
others.